Scammers are everywhere, and no day ends without having one or two people encountering fraud, either physical or online. Research conducted by the Federal Trade Commission indicates that at least 1 in 10 Americans get scammed everyday. Unfortunately, the commission projects that these numbers will rise as the number of unemployed individuals rise. Fake escrow is also a digital bait to scam easily, so we should also keep it serious.
No one is immune to scams, but being aware of the tactics that scammers use to steal from you helps you identify such people if they happen to contact you. Here’s a list of some of the most famous scams ever undertaken.
Debt Collection Scams
The scammers call unsuspecting individuals to inform them that they have debts. They pretend to be debt collectors from renowned financial institutions who are following up on your loan payment. Mostly, they convince you that you borrowed a loan from their bank and that you’ve defaulted the payment.
At this point, they threaten to report you to the authorities and forwarding your details to credit reference bureaus, a move that would ruin your credit score. These people use cheap technology to fish out basic details about you so they can sound more convincing.
They aim to scare you into believing you owe them money and that you’re better off paying the loan immediately. Such scammers harras you, leaving you no room to defend yourself in the hope of luring you to wiring them the funds.
Online Casino Scamming
Avid gamblers are the ones who fall prey to this trick. Once you join an online casino, you will receive a welcome bonus that lures you into the site to gamble. You’ll deposit some cash and play a game and win. These scammers will allow you to enjoy consecutive wins so that they can entice you to deposit even more money.
When you cash in an amount that is satisfactory to them, they will delete your account, and any efforts to contact the support team and lodge a complaint will be futile. You’ll soon discover that the betting site did not have a gambling license or any other government permit that allows them to run a gaming website, but unfortunately, you won’t recover your lost cash.
Scams.info delves more into online gambling site scams, describing how they work and how to avoid them. It also features guides on safe online casinos. So, if you would like to play a few rounds of poker or slots—it has the right recommendations.
Employment Scams
While most Americans are suffering due to the effects of unemployment, some cunning individuals are eking a living out of the situation, especially if you’re desperate and ignorant. These scammers create a job opening and advertise it on social sites, posing as the recruitment agency. They provide an email or contact that you can use to reach out to them if you’re interested in the gig.
Once you send your application, these individuals will reply to your email, indicating that you are one of the shortlisted candidates. They’ll go ahead and ask you to send some money to either secure an interview, the job position, or so that your CV can be forwarded to the company that’s hiring.
Fake Lottery Prizes
This breed of thieves makes you believe that you and other gamblers have been randomly chosen as lottery winners as a token of appreciation for being a loyal customer. They usually hack telecommunication company servers to obtain contacts, and then they send you a message that indicates you’ve won a certain amount of money.
They provide contacts that you can use to call them so you can claim your prize. A few hours later, they will make a follow-up call to confirm if you received the text if you won’t have contacted them by then. However, the catch is that you have to send them a little money to unlock your prize. Once you send the money, they disappear.
Investment Boiler Rooms
The most patronizing scammers of all time are the ones that rent out space and run their operations there, hence the name boiler rooms. They make calls all day trying to convince you and other unsuspecting people to invest in the stock market, real estate, or any other business venture they can formulate. They will even give you testimonials of some of the people who’ve succeeded after joining their forum.
Worse still, they may even provide you with information on a website that you can visit to verify their legitimacy. These people will pressure you to send a commitment fee or a downpayment that will allow them to process your documents and pave the way for you to climb the ladder to success.
Once you discover that you’ve been tricked and try calling them so you can claim their cash, they will ask you for more money to investigate the case. They even promise to fire the employee involved in the scam.
Smishing Scams
If you have an online bank account, you are at risk of encountering scammers. These fraudsters use both technology and wit to lure you into their trap. The first thing they do is to impersonate your bank’s contacts, something they achieve using cheap technology that they buy on the dark web.
They will call you to lament about a security breach on their servers that cost them all data. And as a result, they’ve had to reach out to all their clients and ask for bank account details so they can restore the servers manually.
They are usually interested in passwords and codes that you use for the two-step verification process. If their mission is successful, they will wire the cash to their accounts or shop online and pay using your money.
Tax and Revenue Collection Scams
No person wants to receive a call from the taxman, especially if the call is about late tax remissions. The scammers who use this tactic understand this, so they use threats such as immediate arrest to make you send them cash.
The threats are aimed at scaring you, consequently leading you to wire them cash. These people usually pose as tax collection agents working on behalf of the government and the IRS. Once the scammers realize that you’ve fallen into their trap, they will state the amount of money you are required to send.
And since they do not want to be traced, they ask you to load the cash gift cards and vouchers. This has to be the greatest indicator that the entire operation is a fraud since the IRS never asks for vouchers and gift cards in place of the money you owe them.
Take Out
Scammers put pressure on you to seal the deal instantly, which is why you should never respond to any requests or threats that demand you to make decisions hastily. You’re better off verifying the information before you initiate any money transfer. Also, it would help if you remembered that no bank or financial organization asks for your password.
To make life harder for scammers and help others learn from your experience, please report all fraud cases to the relevant authorities as soon as you discover you’ve been duped.
